The Thrashers have tendered qualifying offers to the following seven players, thereby retaining their rights:
Niclas Bergfors
Ben Eager
Bryan Little
Clarke MacArthur
Ondrej Pavelec
Peter Mannino
Anthony Stewart
They have not tendered qualifying offers to the following four players who will now become unrestricted free agents.
Chad Denny
Rylan Kaip
Scott Lehman
Matt Siddall
what about Boulton ? isn’t he an UFA, also ? any word on his status ?
these are Restricted Free Agents, not Unrestricted Free Agents like Boulton.
I personally like Eric Boulton, he has always been one of the nicest players when we have gone up to Duluth to watch practice (plus he handed pucks to my 2 youngest kids during pre-game warmups one game last year). But, I think his time here might be done.
No surprises there.
UFA deadline is June 30 (to get contract done / there’s no “qualifying offer” process). Boults’ days may be numbered with Eager and if we keep Arty.
Arty and Boults are both gone in my mind. Eager fills the role of Boulton and Arty is on his way to the KHL where he can play a top 6 role.
As for the RFA I have no problem with them as long as little Mac is signed to a 2 way tender. I am not sold on him having a one way contract.
What do you Thrashers fans think of Niclas Bergfors?
why are we not going to resign Artyukhin? He is a more talented Byfuglien. He is a faster skater, better shooter, forechecks like crazy, the same weight but an inch taller as Byfuglien, and is cheaper . He may not be as good in deflections as Byfuglien but he can be taught. I feel like he is a Dudley type player so why does it appear as though we are not going to even try and resign him?
jwolf,
Artyukhin is bad along the boards, good at turning the puck over, and looked lost in the defensive zone. In my mind he doesn’t play winning hockey even though he does have talent.
None of those players would even want to be on the thrashers. ill bet if they can choice any team, ill bet thrashers wont be first. Atlanta isnt a place for hockey.
wisconsin needs a NHL team and thats a city that have grew up around hockey.
^ Hey, shut up.
To GPMtT: One I respect your opinion… two, learn some sort of spell checking.
Okay I think Bolts is an awesome guy, but I don’t know if he has room on this roster anymore. I hate to say that but, it’s true. The only person who I am kinda sad to see that we are putting a qualifying offer to is Lehman. he got to the big show a few times and he seems like he has a great upside.
I just hope that we can keep either Max or Army, but i think we will lose both sadly.
Dear GPMtT,
You got an Arena in Wisconsin? Do you have a city for it? Do people live in Wisconsin?
But honestly, Wisconsin is the most depressing place on earth, I had the misfortune to live there for three years. I think players would rather hang themselves than go there……
Get back to watching cheese ferment……
-mike
no i dont live in wisconsin. But they do deserve a team, and the city would actually support it. also QC, Winnipeg, KC, Hamilton, and Hartford. you think people in atlanta really care if the thrashers stay?! Im sure most of the people in atlanta dont even know who was the thrashers first pick in this year draft was or even know who kovalchuk is. speaking of kovalchuk you “fans” talk so much trash about him thats it make the thrashers look like a joke. HE MADE THE TEAM! You really think without Maxim or Kubina that this team would even make it in the playoffs & your Anderson messed up Kozlov career who actually wanted to retire as a thrasher. Time for Atlanta to start supporting Nashville Preds, because its the closest thing you going get to a NHL team again. RIP Atlanta Thrashers.
Trust me, you can forget about the Thrashers moving. It’s not going to happen.
did u really say kovy made the team? i guess in a way he did. he MADE the team poorer, he MADE the team get stressed out during the season this year, he MADE as many awful plays as good ones, and he MADE us trade him which in turn helped the team so in a disturbed way yeah i suppose he did make the team
kozlov screwed himself out of the line up by under performing and then he kept under performing and arguing with the coach. he under performed and had a bad attitude about it.
look at slater he was benched at the start and worked his way back in by committing and following what the coach said and he had one of his best seasons.
kozlov had a good run with us but he doesn’t fit the team, nor does he have a good team mentality.
maxim did great but we’re trying to find slots for the young guys we have waiting it’s pretty normal for a team to move a major player so to have cap room or room for young guys. chicago moved havlat the pts ldr of the team at the end of 09 and then they won the cup.
kubina id love to see back. probably the most underated defensemen in the league. but we also have postma,kulda, and vish waiting in chicago, not to mention schubert and valabik (i’d trade valabik) already on the team. i look at that and think we can have a cheaper younger kubina for much longer.
just my take on that.
dont be mad at me. be mad at atlanta. Kozlov & Kovy was a great line. Kozlov wasnt anything bad, he still is amazing. Reasoners was bad!!!
are you kidding me! so your saying that Kovy was a bad draft pick? you rather have Alexander Svitov and only thing why Spezza doing good because the players around him are good. Have respect for Kovalchuk! you know you got his jersey, and you know you was cheer him on! Ill bet if Kovalchuk was never on this team, they would have never made the playoffs.
most of kovalchuks goals come from the pp. and fyi if you mean just point wise i believe marian hossa was the pt’s leader the year they went to the playoffs.
yeah i liked him when he was on the team but i disliked his selfish play and attitude this past year, he didn’t even try to be a two way player.
just so you know there is a reason reasoner was voted by the players as the mvp or w.e it was two years in a row.
Did you answer my question, was kovalchuk a bad Draft Pick? im 100% sure if Kovalchuk wasnt playing on the 2007 team they wouldnt been in the playoffs and its Kovalchuk choice if he wants more money, you cant judge him for wanting more money. Thats none of you business what his income is! im sure people aren’t going to come up to you and ask your income, and say “your getting paying you too much.”
bad draft pick? nah.
here’s the thing when u become a public figure like say a professional athlete you willingly give up on whats considered “your” business because it’s not just “yours” anymore.
he can ask for how much money he wants yeah, but you can tell alot about a person who says they want to stay and then asks for an ungodly amount of money. To keep kovy we would have to move bogo,kane, and kubina because of their contracts or future of their contracts and probably a few more players. idc how much money someone makes but when they ask for it all and for a team to sacrifice so much to them? that is beyond selfish.
and no i dont have a kovalchuk jersey but if i did i would put a piece of paper over the name and write in Bergfors,oduya,cormier,eager, byfuglien, and sopel.
6 heads are better than one.
Drock20j,
Lehman played 1 NHL game and looked a little lost but with the potential to be a defensive bottom pairing guy the next year. Then I believe he went to block a shot which hit him in the knee right below his pads resulting in him having pretty major knee surgery. I don’t think he has ever been the same since.
I thought 2 years ago he had more playing time…